1816 German Hot Chocolate
A frothy, thick, & delicious version of the classic hot chocolate, from an 1816 Franconian Cookbook
While these days, most people consider hot chocolate to be a classic, winter-time drink, the truth is, chocolate has consumed as a beverage for thousands of years by the peoples of Mesoamerica (most notably the Mayans and Aztecs), who enjoyed chocolate flavored with honey, allspice, vanilla, and chili peppers.
When the Spanish Conquistadors came to the Americas, they were introduced to chocolate by the Central American peoples. The colonizer Hernán Cortés may have been one of the first Europeans to ever consume chocolate, as it was a favorite drink of Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin (aka, Montezuma), who hosted Cortés and his men (before the Spanish imprisoned and later killed him during the conquest of Mexico).
Spanish clergy were actually responsibly for introducing chocolate (still as a beverage) to the Spanish royal court. While it was originally touted as having medicinal qualities, it quickly became favorite, prized luxury among the wealthiest Spaniards. By the early 1600s, chocolate had spread to the Austrian Empire, and by the end of the 17th Century, the entire continent had developed a taste for chocolate.
Throughout the 18th Century, a number of inventions and developments emerged that facilitated the more efficient manufacture of chocolate products, including machinery to grind cocoa beans into a super-fine powder (which makes for a better drink). The Baker Chocolate Company (whose chocolate I used in this recipe) was founded during this time in 1765. Chocolate did, however, remain a relative luxury, not generally affordable for the lowest classes of European society; however, in North America, where cocoa beans didn’t need to be shipped across the Atlantic, chocolate was much more affordable and enjoyed by a wider variety of people.
A 17th/18th century gentleman with a cup of hot chocolate (and one helluva wig)
By 1816, when this cookbook was written (many cookbooks at the time were written for middle-class households, so it can be assumed that chocolate had become more affordable by then), consuming solid chocolate was slowly becoming more popular, but making it into a beverage was still the preferred method of consumption. This makes sense, because pure chocolate is quite bitter, and many of the processes that make modern, solid chocolate appetizing weren’t developed until later in the 1800s.
This recipe is actually quite similar to the modern Viennese Hot Chocolate, in that it uses egg yolk to thicken the chocolate mixture. However, while modern recipes for Viennese-style hot chocolate tend to use only 1 egg, in the 1800s, they didn’t mess around; you’ll need about a half-dozen eggs for this version!
The original recipe (or most of it) from the Neues Fränkisches Kochbuch by M.D. Funk (1816)
Interpreting these old recipes requires a certain amount of guess-work; the recipe gave no indication how much sugar or cinnamon should be added to the chocolate, but after some experimentation, I settled on 1 Tbsp sugar per Ounce of chocolate. As for the cinnamon, I personally think 1 teaspoon or so was sufficient, but it’s really a matter of taste; you may want to add more or less, depending on your penchant for cinnamon. And on the subject of cinnamon, I used Ceylon cinnamon, as this would’ve been the only kind of cinnamon commonly found in Europe in the 1800s. I think the Cassia cinnamon that’s more common in US & Canadian supermarkets will certainly work well, but Ceylon cinnamon is a bit more subtle than Cassia cinnamon, so you might be able to get away with using less than 1 tsp. Furthermore, I’ve read that consuming too much Cassia cinnamon can cause liver toxicity due to much higher amounts of Coumarin than Ceylon cinnamon. However, unless you’re using multiple teaspoons and then chugging the entire batch on your own, you absolute madman, there’s no real danger.
Another question I had, was whether to boil the milk, or simply scald it (heat to 170 - 190F). I tried both methods, and the main benefit to boiling seems to be that the chocolate stays hot for longer.
Speaking of boiling though; it is imperative that you take the chocolate off the heat, and use a ladleful or so to temper the egg yolks before whisking them into the chocolate pot. If you’re unfamiliar with tempering, it means to warm up the egg yolks so that when they hit the much hotter chocolate mixture, they don’t start to scramble. If you’re anything like me, and I know I am, you don’t want your hot chocolate full of chunks of scrambled egg.
While it may seem strange, egg yolks were one of the main thickening agents back in the day! The end result is a drink that has the strong flavor of dark chocolate, a subtle taste of cinnamon that nonetheless permeates every sip, and has an almost velvety smoothness and thickness. While it’s certainly more work than microwaving a hot cocoa packet, enjoying such a unique beverage (and a link to the past) is, to me, certainly worth the effort!
Finally, if you want a uber-thick version of this hot chocolate, use heavy cream instead of milk. The original German recipe mentions that you can use either milk or cream, so during testing, I made one batch using heavy cream. The result was rich and delicious, and thick to the point where it was almost easier to eat with a spoon rather than drink it!
1816 German Hot Chocolate
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
- The ratio of sugar to chocolate is 1 Tbsp sugar to 1 oz. of chocolate, so if you increase the amount of sugar, make sure to adjust the sugar (and cinnamon) accordingly.
- The original recipe mentions using milk or cream; if you use heavy cream, the result will be an extremely thick, but deliciously rich "drink". You may have better luck eating it with a spoon!
- In the original recipe, the cinnamon would have been Ceylon cinnamon, but the more common Cassia cinnamon will work too.
